Drew Brees on Darren Sproles trade: 'That was one of the tougher ones'

Darren Sproles will not be helping Drew Brees out of the backfield after his trade to Philadelphia. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Drew Brees and Darren Sproles have played together as members of the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints, but with a recent trade that sent Sproles to the Philadelphia Eagles, Brees is beginning to come to the reality that he will no longer have Sproles coming out of the backfield.

If Brees would have had his way, it is easy to see that he would have preferred Sproles to remain a member of the Saints for the remainder of his career.

“That was one of the tougher ones for me,” Brees said, via Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports. ”I feel like that was my guy, that was my pick and I wanted that to last forever. But unfortunately, it didn’t last forever.”

The Saints now have just six players remaining on the roster who were a part of their Super Bowl XLIV team and Brees is blown away that he is now surrounding by a cast of new players.

“That’s crazy. That was just four years ago,” Brees said. “It’s tough, because a lot of those guys I’ve played with for eight years. Eight years. Which is rare. I’d say that’s very rare in this day and age, to have that amount of time with a group of guys. You become very connected during that time, so it’s always hard when you get to this point.

“It’s going to be a new team in a lot of ways, a lot of young guys stepping up into roles that maybe they haven’t been in before and it’s where the new leaders emerge. You kind of forge a new identity a little bit.”

The good news for Brees, however, is that the Saints have a vastly improved defense and tight end Jimmy Graham will still be on the team after being slapped with the franchise tag.

Losing Sproles may have been difficult for Brees, but a little winning can fix anything.